TLOK SI: Oh, Brother... I'm a Fire Bender (Patreon)

CHAPTER 3

Willaim was thankful that Katara gave him a room at her place to stay.

"Thank you so much, ma'am."

"Oh, it's nothing, William. You must be tired after all that's happened. Go get a good night sleep, you'll be training your fire bending tomorrow."

That made him freeze.

"... Excuse me?"

"It's law for benders to immediately start training as soon as they bent for the first time. From your aura and chi reserves, I doubt that you've trained your bending before."

She explained as she bent water out from a pail of water.

"There will be a teacher from the White Lotus to train you in the White Lotus Hall, the one that you were in just now. He will be the fire bending teacher for both you and Korra, once she finishes her earth bending basics."

Nodding, he wished her good night before entering his room, it was quite empty with just a bed, some candles and a lantern for light, a chair and desk for him, along with some paper and ink laid on the table. It was however sufficient for him since he was a minimalist kind of guy that didn't like decorations anyways.

Sitting on the chair, he breathes out as he palms his face.

How the hell did he even come here? From his memories, he couldn't find anything that resulted in him being sent to this weird post-Avatar world.

He worried about his parents and sister, sure they would be fine without him, but damn, does he worry about them, especially when they were techno-illiterate. They couldn't even buy things online, even his sister who is an aspiring doctor!

... He wondered what were they doing. Were they thinking about him? He sure hoped they did.

Slapping his cheeks lightly to focus, he took the quill (Oh, god) and dipped it in ink, testing writing on the paper and getting used to writing using it after a few strokes before taking a fresh new paper.

Right, bending. God, he had fire abilities. If it weren't for the fact that he was still accepting his situation, he would be cheering for joy.

Thinking hardly, he started to write.

Iroh - Fire comes from the breath. The breath becomes energy, and then the energy becomes fire!

Well, something like that, he can't remember word for word. But this should be the basics of basics.

He'll be back to write down more once he learned about fire bending.

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"Good morning, William. I am Master Keishi, your fire bending teacher."

A middle-aged man with black hair and golden eyes greeted him. He was wearing a white hakama with some black accents on the edges of the hakama, with the symbol of a white lotus etched on the back. He also wore winter boots and was carrying something like a duffle bag.

He greeted him back as they entered the hall to see Korra learning water bending from Katara.

"Oh, hey William!"

Korra, who was in the middle of a water bending motion saw him and immediately waved at him, which caused the water that was suspending in the air to shoot towards him.

SPLASH!

Well, he was now soaked. Very nice job, Korra.

"It seems like Korra's first instinct is to fire at you, William."

Katara chuckles at her joke before quickly drawing out all the moisture from his clothes using her bending, which kinda terrified William. If she could just draw out all the water from something that instantly, then what is stopping her from bending the water inside his body?

He shudders slightly before Keishi coughs in his hand.

"Master Katara, Avatar, it is a pleasure."

He said with sincerity before bowing slightly, as Korra waved at him with an excited "Hi!" while Katara waved the bow off.

"Keishi, I told you before, none of this "Master" talk. Don't make me tell Zuko about this."

Keishi gulped at the word of Zuko, which immediately piqued William's interest. So Zuko was still alive? That was really cool. Best character development, to be honest.

"Haha... Please don't."

Wait a second... Now that he thought about it, how did he not get splashed with water? He was right there in the strike zone?

Glancing at the man beside him, the answer clicked when he smelt a little hint of fire, and there were vapors surrounding him.

Noticing the glance, the man somehow put two and two together before revealing his trick.

"I bent a wave of fire to dispel the water."

He explained before waving his hands around in a circle as fire expelled from his palm. That was cool.

"If you'd excuse us, we're going to start his training now."

And with another bow, he urged him to follow him as they walked to the back of the hall to reveal an open-spaced stage with the symbol of the White Lotus on the ground.

"Come, sit."

He said as he patted the ground in front of him after he sat down himself. Following his instructions, he sat down as Keishi took out a scroll from the bag that he had. Placing it onto the ground, he opened it to reveal drawings of motions.

"This here is a fire bending scroll used to teach new fire benders the motions.

Usually, a teacher would just let his student master this immediately, but I feel that it will deter your progress if I do such a thing without going into some topics that I'd like to talk about beforehand."

Taking another scroll out, he set it side by side with the other scroll as William looked at them.

"This scroll is what teachers give their students also when they start their training. There is a difference in them, can you find it?"

Examining the scrolls, he finds out that most of the motions in the scroll were completely different.

"The motions, they're different."

That prompted a nod.

"Yes, that is correct. The motions are different, yet teachers still give beginners different scrolls."

Taking a piece of paper out, he grabs a pen (What the hell?) before drawing two circles separate from each other.

"To learn to fire bend, you will have to learn two things. Stance Bending, and Free-form Bending."

He writes them down, each in their respective circles.

"Stance Bending is bending by directly flowing your chi around your body using motions."

He extends his right hand outward.

"From the stomach, the chi will flow through your hand, and then your fist. By punching, I can visualize the energy flow much better and in turn, release my technique quicker and with more power."

He gave out a punch, as a burst of flame expelled outwards.

"While bending, visualization of your chi is very important, especially for fire benders as we are required to conjure our own source of fire from within ourselves. By doing stances, we can visualize our techniques better."

He then wrote the point of Stance Bending by extending an arrow from the circle, To visualize chi flow with motions and stances.

"Now, Free-Form Bending is when you've mastered visualizing your chi flow to the point that motions are no longer required to bend. Example of this is King Bumi of Omashu, was recorded to bend with just his face.

Motions of hands and legs are no longer required to bend one element, but we as humans subconsciously move any parts of the body to visualize something in our head. Another example of this is when you listen to music, your head will subconsciously swing because you are visualizing the tempo."

With the same hand, he raised it upwards into the sky. Closing his eyes, Keishi concentrated before flames burst out of his fist, but this time without the punching motion.

"Of course, I still haven't mastered Free-Form Bending, even with my 30 years of experience bending the element, but I can at least do a little bit of it."

He said with a grin before writing the point of Free-Form Bending, Mastery of chi control can allow bending without the need of physical motion.

"Alright, finally, we get into the middle of both of these states."

He then drew a circle in between the two already existing circles. 

"This, is Zone Bending. In a situation when you are in an incredible concentration moment, you'll reach this bending state. 

Adrenaline rushes through your body as techniques are now relying on your muscle memory, while your bending will reach a higher level of control instinctually, making you able to bend powerful like a master bender, yet maximizing energy consumption."

"Have you entered the state before then?"

William asked the question. Keishi just chuckled. 

"No, I've never entered such state before. Records of people who did, though, are all part of the previous Avatar's group during the Hundred-Year War.

Master Katara and Fire Lord Zuko are such examples. They've experienced them and recorded their experiences before, even if they've only entered the state once each."

Nodding in understanding, William noted. 

"So it's the pinnacle of bending."

"Exactly."

Standing up, William quickly followed suit as Keishi took out two devices that resembled gloves from his bag before dropping the bag and getting into a crouched stance.

"Before we learn the states of Stances and Free-Form, first we have to train your chi control."

Tossing William the gloves, Keishi urged him to wear them before instructing him to get into the similar stance. The black leather gloves had some type of screen on the padding.

"I want you to fire bend. Do not hold back and use as much power as you can currently muster."

Listening to his teacher, he breathes in as he closes his eyes in concentration, feeling the chi in his stomach start to heat up. 

"Visualization is key. From the stomach, to the shoulders, and then to the fist. Then, will the chi to burst out like an explosion!"

Putting his right hand at his hip while his left hand was out in a guard, he takes a deep breath, before exhaling. 

Inhaling, exhaling.

Inhaling, exhaling.

Inhaling, exhaling.

Feeling the chi inside of him burn like he was fanning a fire, his eyes opened as he shifted his rear foot backwards. Cocking his right hand, he twists his right foot before launching a punch.

BOOOOM!

Fire erupted from his fist as it soared a couple of feet forward, the heat was intense enough that the snow surrounding them in a meter radius instantly melted. 

After a second, the fire slowly dissipated, as he started to feel lightheaded, presumably from the sudden usage of chi. Keishi who was nearby walked towards him before checking the gloves.

The screen of the gloves had turned slightly orange, prompting a satisfied nod from Keishi. 

"The glass part of the glove represents the amount of chi exerted based on the temperature and duration of the flame from blood red to snow white. You have quite the potential, William, not many start out with orange."

Keishi said with a hint of surprise before asking him to take the gloves out.

"From the reports of Master Katara, your sea of chi is smaller than ones your age. No worries though, through fire bending training, you will expand it naturally."

He explained before handing him the piece of paper that he used along with both of the scrolls. 

"Only do a scroll at a time, do not commit to two at once. Go back and think of which scroll to start, I've written some pros and cons about both movesets. I shall see you tomorrow at dawn for the official start of your training."

"Thank you, Teacher Keishi."

He meant that, he just dumped a lot of useful info about bending to him, to which he was thankful for. 

"It is no problem, William."